Community expresses strong opinions at the Kirksville City Council meeting

Tuesday

Aug 19, 2014 at 10:56 AM

Kirksville residents, business owners and real estate leaders brought forth differing opinions on several City Council agenda items Monday.

Danielle Brown Kirksville Daily Express @danibrown_kde

Kirksville residents, business owners and real estate leaders brought forth differing opinions on several City Council agenda items Monday, disagreeing with the downtown traffic light proposal as well as low-income housing plans and tax credits for a renovation project.

During the citizen participation segment of the meeting, a couple of Kirksville residents stepped forward to express their concerns about the possibility of replacing the downtown traffic signals with stop signs - a topic that has been widely discussed by the City Council and the Airport and Traffic Commission since June.

Kirksville resident and business owner Craig Shorten came forward to the Council and stated that he liked the presentation of the traffic signals over the stop signs.

“I just encourage you to be patient and keep those operating as long as you can,” Shorten said. “I’m down there morning, noon and night, and I don’t have any problems with the flashing lights. They seem to work. I just thinks it’s a better look than just stop signs.”

Steve Taylor, another local business owner, said he felt that stop lights were the best approach for the city because they add to Kirksville’s status.

“I just think it seems to make Kirksville seem more like a city than a town. I think Kirksville’s the city in the area; we need stop lights,” Taylor said.

Mayor Glen Moritz thanked both for their input on the matter before moving on to the first agenda item for the evening - a request of the Council’s support of the TerraVest Development Corporation’s application to the Missouri Housing Development Commission for Housing Tax Credits to finance a new construction project of a 60-unit low-income housing complex for senior citizens at 2203 N. Baltimore Street.

There were mixed reviews from Council members and citizens on the item.

Council member Bob Russell said he received a phone call from one the company’s representatives and thought the company’s plan for a new housing complex sounded like a “good deal” for the city.

Local business owner Ken Read expressed some concern about adding another low-income housing complex in Kirksville after seeing a large amount of vacancies during the winter months. Read, who recently got approval to get six properties demolished, stated he’s seen many residents move out, leave properties vacant and they’ve ended up “trashed and torn down.”

“We do not need another low-income housing project in Kirksville, especially 60 units,” Read said. “Sixty units is a huge impact on this community at one time.”

Jay Burchfield, a representative for TerraVest who was present during the meeting, disagreed and said that he saw need specifically for housing within the elderly community.

“There is a need in that area. “There is a need in that area. There hasn’t been a lot of fixed-income (homes for) elderly developed recently.”

Burchfield said the plan for the complex is to restrict the requirements to people ages 62 and up, with an income of around $25,000. He added that there are currently about 3,000 households in Kirksville that fit the description.

Council member Jerry Mills requested more time to make a decision on whether the council would support the project, which council member Richard Detweiler agreed with. Mills stated that he would like more discussion on the matter between Burchfield, the Council and community, because “it is a big impact on the community.”Detweiler added, “At this point, I’m thinking we’ve already had enough of the housing.”

The Council did end up tabling the discussion after Mills’ concerns and unanimously approved to postpone a decision until Aug. 25.

Tensions got a little high during the next agenda item, which requested the Council’s support of the Millennia Housing Development’s application to the Missouri Housing Development Commission for Low-Income Housing Tax Credits for a renovation project at Kirksville Heights Apartments, 2400 S. Baltimore Street.

Eric Green, a local property owner, stated that it wasn’t fair for real estate companies to receive tax credits for building in Kirksville. Green said he’s been the business for 30-plus years and almost went broke numerous times “but I made it.”

“I never got any tax credits. I never got any help. I never got anything. I’m almost suspicious when somebody’s got their hand out,” he said.

He added that it wasn’t “fair” for other agencies to receive tax credits when he’s spent over $40,000 fixing his properties while still having to pay around $20,000 in taxes.

Council member Bob Russell responded by saying that community members need to stray away from an old way of thinking and let others into the Kirksville community to add.

“I haven’t seen very much growth in Kirksville. Everything that Kirksville can gain, you can’t look at the past the way we used to do things. Everything we built, whether it’s residential or commercial, is a payback for this city for a tax decrease. Because the more people you have shopping in the community, the more money you take in,” Russell said.

“We can benefit from the residential growth, as well as we can benefit from the commercial stuff we’re trying to attract. If Kirksville weren’t wanting to grow, and maybe we don’t want it to grow, maybe we want to keep it to that certain facets of ‘I don’t want anybody in here because I don’t want anybody to disturb my nest egg here,’ and I’m just being blunt. Kirksville has got to grow and we’ve got to put it out there.”

Green responded back to Russell and asked how much property he owned throughout the city. He continued by stating that he owned over $800,000 worth of real estate in Kirksville.

The two went back and forth for a very short period of time before Moritz took control of the situation and stopped the discussion to prevent an argument.

At the end of the discussion, the council voted unanimously to approve support of Millenia’s application.

The City Council also approved (5-0) support of the Rural Housing of Kirksville, L.P.’s application to the Missouri Housing Development Commission for Affordable Housing Tax Credits for a renovation project at Sheraton Square Apartments, a request which was not related to the previous item.

Other items approved included: the use of city streets for the Kirksville High School homecoming parade (5-0), an update to the Vehicle Replacement Policy (5-0) and an amendment of the budget to allow for an increase in the expense amounts for: the Kirksville Airport fuel source, fall programs at North Park and a $9,000 support fee toward the Adair County Humane Society (5-0).